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All posts for the month September, 2011

I don’t know why we were doing this sensual topic fresh off of Christmas, but I guess all that food and merriment and frolicking and revelry fall pretty much into the realm of pleasure.It’s funny to see what gives pleasure to people.

December 28, 2009 → The Top Ten Definitions Of Pleasure – Sent in by Astroboy

Caramello – Pressing my pasa (bruises). I don’t know why, but I get a weird sense of pleasure from the pain. Maybe I’m a masochist!

Gracia- After a long hard day at working, crashing into bed with feet elevated.

Gorgeous Bitch – A single day without me getting into an argument with my mom.

Yoshimichu – Devouring in one sitting…12 inches…worth of sudoku!

Maldito – Checking the ATM during payday.

Maldito – When my boyfriend whispers so close to my ear that it feels as if he’s licking it..ay, panalo sa kuryente!

Sober – Waking up to see that there’s more time to sleep.

No name – Getting a massage on the sands of a beach on a lazy afternoon, as I fall gently to sleep.

Blitzkrieg – The first sip of ice cold tea after a long hike to Taal volcano.

No name – Seeing the look on my cheating ex-boyfriend’s face when I left a message for him on his car…using spray paint.

I wanna watch this! Since Stomp! started in the 90’s I’ve always wanted to see this live. It was making waves in London’s West End then later in New York’s Broadway. Finally they’re coming to Manila! They’ll be having only 8 shows, from October 18-23 at the CCP Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo. You can call 8919999 for tickets or log on to http://www.ticketworld.com.ph or check out their website at http://www.lunchbox-productions.com.

The show features a unique combination of percussion, movement and visual comedy. Do you remember this Dolby short that they used to play all the time before a movie screening?

That’s Stomp! To whet your appetite, in case you have no idea what to expect, here’s a sample of their unique way of combining sound, dance and comedy:

These are the videos I’ve seen recently that were such inspirations in creativity.

Sesame Street does Glee

Hands-down, the best Glee spoof out there. Nothing like Sesame Street to do a perfect pitch spoof of the current culture tentpoles.

The next videos just gave me goosebumps:

500 people in 100 seconds

I swear, what sort of geniuses dream up of even just the concept, what more actually going out and doing it? Incredible and inspiring.

tall painting

Again, watching this mesmerized me. It made me want to take up painting or something. I just watched it over and over as it hypnotized and lulled me into a trance.

Planets As Seen From Earth

Being a huge fan of astronomy, this really gave me goosebumps. Even as a kid, until now actually, I always dream of aliens and space travel and even dying in space! I’m as fascinated by outer space as I am by inner space.

Madeon – Pop Culture

Let’s end with something fun. Love the song, love the video. I swear, watching these was a shot in the arm. I feel like creating something now; I don’t know what, but something…

In this golden age of the Belos and the Calayans, with their nips and tucks, botoxes and boob jobs, this is definitely something new. I don’t even know how harmless or dangerous this whole breast slapping technique is, but it sure looks painful! I’m just curious what the whole concept is, she never really explained how slapping can help enlarge or contour a body part. Remember how we used to tap our chins up every time someone hit us on the head, as if to counteract the downward force by delivering little blows in the opposite direction? Maybe it’s something like that.

My only question is…does the same technique apply to penis enlargement…?

After we got to interview Haley Reinhart, Casey Abrams and Paul McDonald, I really wanted to watch the American Idol concert! Meeting them in person suddenly reignited the Idol fire that’s been burning since Fantasia won in the third season. And the 11 finalists didn’t disappoint.

I was surprised at who were the crowd favorites! It was mainly Haley, Casey, James, Stefano, and surprisingly, Paul had some of the loudest cheers! I was a bit shocked that Thia and Pia, who I would suspect would garner the loudest cheers, were actually tepidly received. I was surprised at how the crowd reacted to the different performers.

Possibly the weakest reaction was with Lauren Alaina, mainly because of her genre, I suppose. Country’s not really that big here in the Philippines, so it’s not so much her fault, because she really gave it her best. Also Jacob’s version of R&B was a bit too esoteric for mainstream Pinoy taste.

The big surprise though was Naima, who, coming into the concert was possibly the least popular of the 11. But when she started writhing and dancing during her rendition of JLo’s “On The Floor”, complete with jumps that ended with a split, she got the crowd screaming with delight. Perfect example of winning a crowd over. Props to her!

Of course when Stefano stripped off his shirt, the ladies in the house (and the accompanying bekis) just went WILD. Stefano looks a bit haggard though. When I saw his face close up on the big screen, he looked far from rested; he looked tired and drawn out. Maybe it’s all the touring taking it’s toll on these kids.

But as far as performing is concerned, the night belonged to Haley. The vocal maturity she’s show and the confidence she wielded just blew me away. When she sings, it doesn’t sound live – it sounds like a CD! When she did that jazz number with Casey, I had goosebumps! This girl has got IT. Even if she doesn’t become a big star (as she should!), she’d be a talent to reckon with.

The show was split into two parts, the first part more of the variety show type, with the finalists performing crowd-pleasing radio hits. You can’t really go wrong singing hits from Alicia Keys and Usher, so it was very fast-paced, and everyone was singing along to each hit. The second half was more concert-y, with more solos from the top finalists, but all very relatable, all very easy to digest.

Big winner Scotty McCreery didn’t show up until the second half, The show built sufficient tension and drama by withholding the charismatic crooner from the crowds until everyone was foaming at the mouth to finally see him, so when he finally made his big entrance, the screaming just peaked. I was so surprised at Scotty’s appeal. He was singing the same unknown country songs like Lauren did, but this time, the crowd was lapping it up. That’s how much his star wattage is, it doesn’t matter what he’s singing, the crowd just loved him to pieces. We love him THIS big.

I extra loved Scotty and Alaina’s duet of “When You Say Nothing At All”. We all forget that Alison Krauss is a bluegrass artist. All in all, I’m so glad I caught this show (thanks RX bosses!). I must say, although other seasons had bigger individual stars like Kelly, Carrie, Daughtry, etc., as a group, this is probably the best season to watch live. So many personalities and musical genres, and such big talents. I don’t know if they have the IT factor that will launch them to stardom, but these guys have huge HEARTS, all performing like they were in an AI finale, and I really appreciate that. Scotty’s the biggest star, Haley’s the best vocalist, and I can’t wait to see what season 11 will put on the table!

Seriously though, watching this video made me chuckle, but it also reminded me of a nagging question that hangs over our heads on a regular basis: How long do we still have on radio? Don’t get me wrong, we don’t have any plans of quitting or retiring just yet, we still have a lot of kick left. But with Delle becoming a mom in as soon as a few days, plus lots of things happening in our individual lives, I just wonder what fate has in store for us. Will we break the record for the longest FM radio show in history (what IS the record by the way?), or will we find other lives outside of radio soon? I wonder how history will eventually judge us? Anyway, forgive the random musings of a frazzled mind. It’s all this hard labor of not having a yaya around. It’s a long story, hopefully I can gather my thoughts and blog about what actually happened. Suffice it to say, we parted ways with our yaya of 15 years. So now, I’m TRYING to learn how to be self sufficient around the house. Not. Fun.

It’s no big secret I’ve been a big fan of American Idol ever since season 3 was aired in the Philippines with the glorious hot mess that is Fantasia bagging the top prize. I’ve been lucky to meet a couple of Idols like Eliot Yamin and Taylor Hicks, but it was such a treat to have three of them all in the RX booth! The RoRo boys were supposed to interview Haley Reinhart, Paul McDonald and Casey Abrams, but they were nice enough to let such big fans (Delle and I) crash their interview.

We were so happy that these three were the ones who came over. Although personally I would’ve loved to meet Scotty and Pia as well (more for the star power), we were stoked that the three musically strongest finalists dropped by. Anyone who’s followed the 10th season would agree that whether you like them or not, these three were solid as musicians, not just performers, but actual musicians. And vocally, Haley is arguably the best vocalist in the competition. Although James and Jacob had big voices too, Haley wielded her instrument the most deftly.

They may not be as big “stars” as Scotty or Pia, but these three are dripping with talent. You could feel the energy in the air. Even when Paul sang ONE line from “Tutti Frutti”, we were already impressed. Darn, now I really want to watch (but I don’t have tickets!). Anyway, the three were just so friendly and accommodating, gamely taking pictures with everyone who wanted to. You never felt like they were annoyed or would rather be somewhere else.

I even loved it when Haley remarked after the interview: “I’m so glad we did an interview with you guys!” Their energy was very open, and we kept taking pictures as much as we wanted! I can’t believe that they were so nice about. I loved that part of the interview when we told Paul that the balut soup he drank was basically baby duck pee.

We heard some rumors about one idol finalist who didn’t endear himself/herself (I won’t tell!) to the local fans by being standoffish and a little blunt, but there was none of that here. I’m sorry if I’m gushing but these guys deserve to have long careers if fate would have it, because they’re talented AND they’re genuinely nice.

Haley is so beautiful in person, I was actually shocked to see just how hot she actually is. I didn’t see it translate on TV, even when she was doing all these sexy songs, but in person, she’s stunning! No wonder Steven Tyler would always subtly hit on her on the show. Paul is not as reed-thin in person, he’s actually tall and quite strapping. Casey is larger than life. All that bushy hair, the big personality, the quirky vibe, all bundle up into one interesting character. And his smile is so warm and genuine, as if he’s the nicest guy in the world.

Suffice it to say, I loved those three! I instantly followed all three on Twitter, and I hope to hear more from them in the future. Not all Idols achieve success like Kelly or Carrie or Daughtry, but I really hope these three get their chance at making incredible music for their fans to enjoy. Waaah, I want to watch the concert!!!